How to be happy though human / by W. Béran Wolfe.
117/400
- Publication/creation
- London : George Routledge, 1932.
- Physical description
- xiv, 374 pages ; 22 cm
- Contributors
- Wolfe, W. Béran 1900-1935.
- Notes
-
This edition was reprinted in 1933, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1942, 1944, 1945, 1946 and 1948.
Copy 1 Note: 1937 reprint. X158203
- Attribution and usage
-
Wellcome Collection
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The image contains the following text:
and most of his days in active participation in Boy
Scout activities. He has suffered no further recurrence
of his depression.
If you have ever felt the desire to blow a cornet, to
cover canvas with colours, to mould a piece of clay, to
collect stamps, to write one-act plays, to do embroidery,
to dance, to grow roses or to raise police dogs, to paint
lamp shades or to do dry-points, do not procrastinate, do
not feel ashamed, but obey that inclination. It may pay
rich dividends in self-esteem and security. The prevailing
belief that you must be very talented to get satisfaction
from an artistic avocation has stopped many from the
enjoyment of their own creative urge. Do not let ignorant
interferers who are suspicious of any activity which is not
strictly money-getting deter you from the practice of these
inner compensations.
It may be set down as a psychological axiom that the
average adult lives only a partial life. The mad competi¬
tion for power and money which is the besetting sin of
modern life, precludes the graceful utilization of leisure
for the acquisition of cultural awareness or the practice
of some artistic craft. It is well for those who wish to
construct a life of enduring happiness to guard against
the temptation to find substitutes for good conversation,
creative hobbies, or cultural avocations, in alcoholic
excesses. There is no true release from the boredom of
an empty life in the continuous repetition of monotonous
bridge playing, nor is there any true surrogate for the
veritable thrills of any creative or expansive avocation
in the artificial exhilaration of stock market manipulations.
These are the emergency devices which the human mind,
starved for proper intellectual and aesthetic nourishment,
is forced to construct as temporary relief measures.
Playing bridge or the “ market ” are temporary sub¬
stitutes at best, whose momentary validity soon fades
into the arid wastes of lethal boredom. Nor can you
escape the problem of the good use of leisure time by
hiding behind innumerable cocktails or whiskies and
sodas.